The Haunted Palace is a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. The 48-line poem was first released in the April 1839 issue of Nathan Brooks' American Museum magazine. This poem has a big shift after stanza four, so let's look at the poem before this point and after the shift in order to better keep track of things. Everything appears nice and happy in the first four stanzas. The poem begins with the speaker describing a wonderful place. This place has ''the greenest of our valleys'' and a ''stately,'' ''radiant'' palace that even the highest angels, the seraphs, find the fairest. Banners of ''yellow, glorious, golden'' wave in the ''gentle air.'' The poem becomes mystical when the speaker looks through two windows and sees ''spirits moving musically'' and the glorious ''ruler of the realm'' inside. The palace is so fine, the door is said to have ''pearl and ruby glowing.'' Even the voices of the singers, referred to as a ''troop of Echoes'' are so beautiful they surpass ''the wit and wisdom of their king.'' There is a tone shift in stanza five. The happiness comes to an end at the end of stanza four. Stanza five brings a sad tone with ''evil things'' that attack the king's palace. Now the windows have a red light coming out of them. Instead of moving harmoniously, the ''vast forms'' move ''to a discordant melody,'' without their former grace. ''A hideous throng'' rushes out of the door, laughing without smiling… You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Haunted Palace” by Edgar Allan Poe on our website.
